Hepatitis C patients with certain gene type more prone to diabetes

Some patients with hepatitis C may be at greater risk of diabetes, depending on a particular gene they carry.

Patients with Hepatitis C who also carry a particular type of gene may be more prone to developing diabetes, a two-year study by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital has found.

The study on more than 100 Hepatitis C patients has found that in those carrying “non-CC genotype” of interleukin-28b gene, the possibility of developing diabetes is 31 per cent, compared to 13 per cent in those carrying “CC genotype” of the same gene.

The study has been accepted for publication in the coming issue of the Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology. Dr Anil Arora, the principal investigator of the study, said the non-CC genotypes were associated with insulin resistance. “There is an association between interleukin-28b gene and insulin resistance, which in turn leads to diabetes,” added Dr Arora, head of gastroenterology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

“When we put both the categories of the interleukin-28b gene together, diabetes prevalence was 22 per cent, which is anyway higher than the general population. So patients with hepatitis, irrespective of the genotype of the gene do have a higher chance of contracting diabetes. But those with the particular genotype we analysed, or patients from a particular subgroup of hepatitis C, have an even higher chance of getting the disease,” said Dr Arora.

Doctors have said in the study that testing for this gene “may be useful in patients of Hepatitis C, in order to determine their likelihood of developing diabetes mellitus.”

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